iOS 27 public beta hands-on: Okay

Apple has released the public beta version of iOS 27 On Monday, July 13, about a month after the company announced what was coming next iPhone software in Worldwide Developers Conference In June. After living with the developer and public betas, I can confidently say that the upcoming software is not only amazing, but it’s also not terribly disappointing.

iOS 27 betas have some useful new features that I enjoyed, like larger widgets. But there were an equal number of eye-catching features, such as new reframing and enlarging tools for images. Despite the focus on artificial intelligence and Siri renewalThe software didn’t convince me that I needed or wanted these AI features. If, like me, you don’t use generative AI regularly, there’s a lot to this update I may not feel all this is helpful. From my experience with the developer and public betas, it feels like Apple has done more fine-tuning under the hood of your iPhone than anything else.

It’s important to remember that the update is still in development, so if you want these features and can’t wait for the general release of the OS this fall, I recommend Download ios27 On a phone other than your primary device. Features in the beta version may be buggy and battery life may be negatively affected.

Ahead of the software’s release in the fall, here are some features in the beta that I used almost every day and others I didn’t like.

My iPhone feels faster

I don’t think I would’ve noticed it if I wasn’t interacting with multiple iPhones on different iOS versions, but the iOS 27 beta brings a lot of performance improvements to your device.

I initially downloaded the iOS 27 developer beta to my device iPhone 14 Pro Once Apple releases it. I didn’t feel much difference between that and me iPhone 16 Pro Works on iOS 26.5 at that time. But I felt the difference after installing the iOS 27 public beta on my 16 Pro. Unlocking my iPhone feels faster, opening apps is faster, and switching between screens is smoother.

This isn’t a feature you can interact with and change, but it’s important to note because it’s fundamental to how your iPhone behaves. It makes everything look smoother on your device.

I love big tools and I can’t lie

iOS 27 beta also introduces another option for the size of the widget that takes up an entire screen on your iPhone. Honestly, I really like it.

my colleague Nelson Aguilar I wasn’t sure he wanted an instrument that big, so at first I agreed. But then I turned my Apple Music app into a big widget and everything changed. With Apple Music, I could see six playlists with this larger tool, which seemed like the right number of music options for almost any situation. The smaller widget showed you four playlists, but that wasn’t enough at all.

Apple Music isn’t the only app getting a big widget either. News, Reminders, and Weather widgets can also be turned into giant widgets and show you more of each widget. You can also zoom in on the Smart Stack widget so you can see additional emails, your schedule for more of the day, and more without opening separate apps.

It’s true that larger widgets only allow you to see more of a particular widget or app, but it feels like I’m interacting with the entire app instead of the little widget you’d use with a smaller widget.

The most detailed weather app

iOS 27 beta also updates your Weather app so it can give you more details about hourly and weekly weather. In the hourly weather forecast circle, there are new buttons for precipitation and wind in the upper right corner of the menu. Click on these items and your hourly and weekly forecast views change to give you images that better illustrate the chances of precipitation throughout the day and week at different intervals, as well as how calm or bad the winds are.

Apple didn’t even mention this change at WWDC or on the iOS 27 webpage, but I love it. When rain is in the forecast, I always check the precipitation hourly, and the new option helps me better understand precipitation chances throughout the day and week at a glance. This feature made me stop and say, “Huh, why wasn’t this here before?”

While I enjoyed these new features, there were a few that didn’t impress me.

I’m still not convinced I want Siri AI

A big part of iOS 27 is the integration of Siri with Apple Intelligence. Apple wrote online The new digital assistant is more capable and useful, but I’m still not convinced by this technology. This is because I don’t feel like it makes things easier; In some cases, it makes things more difficult.

I’ve found this version of Siri AI to be inconsistent at best, which may be in part because it’s in beta. I used voice commands and the new Siri app to ask Siri to perform simple tasks, like sending messages to people or opening apps like Notes, and sometimes it worked.

But there were times when Siri wouldn’t register my voice and would ignore me when I tried to ask it to open an app like Bluesky. Sometimes I’d say “thank you” to Siri, and the digital assistant would say, “No problem,” and that message would freeze on my screen. Other times, Siri only takes the first step in a multi-step request. For example, you asked Siri to send someone a message at a later time, and Siri was ready to send the message right away.

Only when I broke down the steps did I seem to understand what to do in most cases — allowing Siri to perform one task before asking to continue. But there were several times when I was breaking down the steps and Siri couldn’t perform a follow-up task, like opening mail and starting a message to someone.

Siri AI also falls victim to issues faced by other chatbots, where this information may be incorrect or outdated. I asked the app for the latest news, and it gave me information from about a month ago. There’s a disclaimer near the bottom of the responses to verify information, which is a good callout, but it makes me wonder why I’d use this if I had to do my own research anyway.

There’s no data right now on how often Siri AI gets current events right, but a BBC A study last October found that other AI models misrepresent news content roughly 45% of the time. Using a digital assistant, like Siri AI, would be more time consuming for me because I have to resort to search engines anyway just to verify information.

The only Siri AI feature I found useful is the way the assistant can take further actions across apps, like creating a reminder or note directly from Messages. When someone triggers the feature with a phrase like “Don’t forget to buy bread at the store” or “Take photo frames next time you’re here,” the options Add to reminders and Add to notes It appears below the message. These options are useful for me because I can be very forgetful, very distracted, or both – not a great combination!

These one-click prompts also let you add photos to your library, create an event in your calendar, and more.

Accessing the Notification Center can be difficult

As part of iOS 27’s Siri AI revamp, you can access Siri Search or Ask by swiping down from the top center of your home screen. It would be fine if I didn’t spend years learning how to swipe down from that specific place to get to my Notification Center.

If you have Siri AI enabled and want to access the Notification Center, you must swipe down from the top-right side of your home screen. But I usually hold my iPhone with my right hand, so this change actually means I can’t access my Notification Center from my Home screen unless I use both hands.

The good news is that if you don’t have Siri AI enabled, you can swipe down from the top center of your home screen to open the Notification Center. Apple also gives you the option to enable the old Siri without the AI, and if you do, you can also access your Notification Center by swiping down from the top center of your screen.

New photo editing tools have mixed results

The two new AI photo editing tools in iOS 27 beta, Extend and Reframe, are both good but weird. Extend lets you take your photo and extend the boundaries around it using artificial intelligence. Reframe lets you take a photo and change perspective using the same technique. You can probably get away with using these tools for light touch-ups, but my experience with them led to some strange results.

When I used these tools, the dimensions of the resulting images were either incorrect, or there were some weird, weird valley vibes. This is likely in part because the reframing tool is trying to simulate what it would be like if you moved the camera to take the photo, which could cause the lens to distort the image. When I used the tools in some of the photos, I changed the tattoo and shaved part of my head. You probably won’t notice when images are stretched out on blank backgrounds, but other than that, these tools may make your images look a little out of place.

I couldn’t help but think: Why doesn’t someone take another photo instead? Taking more photos at different angles seems to be the simplest and best solution to me.

Final thoughts

When Apple announced iOS 27 at WWDC in June, I wasn’t convinced the update was a big deal, but after testing, my thoughts changed. The iOS 27 betas are succeeding in improving the iPhone experience, and there are smaller features and improvements throughout that can make the overall experience smoother.

Apple will likely view Siri AI as a big feature for iOS 27, much like what Liquid Glass was using iOS 26but based on the betas, I still don’t think it lives up to the promise that AI makes things easier. Granted, I don’t use generative AI or AI agents, so I can’t say whether Siri AI is better or worse than other models, like Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but the iOS 27 beta hasn’t made me any more eager to spend more time with it. The technology seems limited, the results can be wonky, and I have to double-check the chatbot’s results. I don’t feel like this makes anything easier.

The overall result is an OS update that feels like a mixed bag.

It’s important to note that iOS 27 is still in beta, so many of the issues and bugs in the software could be fixed when Apple releases it in the fall. Based on previous releases, I expect the company to release the software around mid-September.

For more iOS news, here’s what you should know about it iOS 27 And everything you need to know about it iOS 26.